Pure Blood (Book two of the Blood Series)

Chapter 20

"Kira, what's wrong?" Oliver asked again as I climbed out of the bed. Without another word I hurried out of the room and ran to the elevator. Oliver was right on my heels, questioning me all the way down. Once outside I looked around, desperate for a secluded place. I could barely contain my sniffles as I half jogged down the street until I found an abandoned ally.

"What's gotten in to you?" He asked desperately, eyes wide with worry. I opened my mouth to speak, but a choked sob came out instead. I buried my face into his chest, feeling comfort wash over me as he wrapped his arms around me.

"It's Sam." I said in between hiccups.

"What's wrong? Is he alright?" He asked quickly, pulling back so he could look at my face.

"He's more than alright apparently." I spat bitterly. "He's leading the rouges Oliver. It's him; Axel works for him."

"What do you mean?" He said, disbelief coving his face. The look in his eyes had hardened as he stared at me. From the glare he was giving off, I felt as if he thought the entire thing was my fault.

"Felix was watching Axel and apparently he works for Sam and Sam is leading the rouges. He didn't give me the details." I said, voice catching. I watched Oliver closely as he repeatedly took deep breaths as he paced in a small circle. For several moments he didn't speak, but rather ran his hands through his hair in distress.

"That's impossible. There's got to be a mistake." He said finally.

"Felix seemed to be very sure." I said sadly, rubbing at my eyes.

"We don't know that's the truth though. We don't even know if you can really see my grandfather's ghost! For all we know that's not even him." Oliver shot back.

"I thought we already went over this. He knows everything that Felix would know and acts exactly like him." I said.

"You never met him when he was alive so you wouldn't know how he acted."

"He's never done anything for you to question. Oliver, I don't like this any more than you." I said, feeling my voice cracking at the end. A few fresh tears slipped from my eyes.

"Where is he? I have some questions for him." Oliver said, anger rising.

"I don't know. He said he had to go."

"Why would a ghost have to go?" Oliver asked, looking at me carefully. It was something that had briefly crossed my mind in the past, but Felix had simply said he couldn't spend forever with us down here.

"I don't know." I said, feeling my own suspicion match his.

"Maybe we shouldn't trust his word for it." Oliver said, beginning his pacing again. I knew this must be harder on him than even for me. It was either trust his brother or his grandfather.

"Oliver, think about it though. Even if Felix hasn't exactly been clear in the past, Sam has obviously been hiding something. Did you ever talk to him about why he never told Niah that I was alive?" I asked. The way that Oliver's eyes widened told me that he hadn't. "And he knew that I was going to be a Pure. Sam isn't stupid." I added.

How could I he do this to me? Reagar had said that it had to have been one of my two previous masters. At this point I wished more than anything that it had been Cedric all along. It would have been easier to take than finding out Sam was behind everything.

"I'm going to kill Axel." Oliver growled.

"We can't yet." I said. "He doesn't know that we know, so Felix said we have the upper hand." I said. He sighed, knowing that his grandfather was right.